To Tame A Beast
by CanaanAlshea
Summary: In Which The Lord Of The West Is Broken, And A Spider Enjoys Every Moment...


Title: To Tame A Beast  
>Author: Yoko-cw<br>Anime: InuYasha  
>Summary: In Which The Lord Of The West Is Broken, And A Spider Enjoys Every Moment...<p>

The spider was there again. Touching, whispering, mocking. The abusive terms did not fall on deaf ears; the moving lips moved up in a smirk as he watched the slim form curl into itself, white limbs encasing the torso, protecting as though the attack were physical. White hair pooled about the debased inu youkai, kept clean only on the whim of another. It had been a long time since the great Lord of the West had even let such petty things enter his mind. He had to focus on survival...and it was quickly fading when he stopped to think of what he was doing, of all the little cracks in his self esteem until it was fragile and a breath away from shattering completely.

Rin and Jaken were gone.

His father was gone.

InuYasha? They hated each other...

...So who was left? Who would save him when he couldn't do so himself? Being famously self reliant had its consequences; too bad no one ever learned that lesson until it was too late, until they were left hoping someone would find them and...there was no one who would even think he he would need rescuing. Sesshoumaru pulled his lower lip into his mouth, biting down hard enough to draw blood as he closed his eyes. Long, white lashes brushed his cheekbones as he tried to block out the red eyes and the hands that were yanking him into a kneeling position. There were no bindings, nothing keeping him in place except an unknown amount of time that was spent on punishing him for fighting, for speaking, for doing anything that labeled him as being alive, for being something more than a toy. So there he sat, the illusion of compliance as he allowed the fingers to brush over his chapped lips and force his mouth open.

Sesshoumaru moved his hands up to lift the long hair from his neck, noting that it was unusually heavy and he wondered if it had grown, or if the lack of nutrition had simply left him weak. 'Perhaps both...I don't know how long it's been...' Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered if Naraku had also done away with AaUn; had they fled, or had they also been slaughtered? Were they cared for back home, were they dead? ...Was it winter yet? "Are you broken, Sesshoumaru? Can you feel the shards of who you were sticking to your insides," the smirk again, "...Does it hurt?" "Yes Master." The automatic response; all of them were to be quick and to end with an honorific. If this rule were broken, he would be punished.

Chewing on glass was enough to convince Sesshoumaru not to make the mistake more than once.

...Somewhere from the same place in his mind, the one that reminisced without his permission, the one that made his heart ache...he saw golden eyes. Pretty yellow eyes identical to his. 'Would you like to see me now, Outouto? Would you laugh along with him, help pull me from corner to corner and revel in my bruises?' It wouldn't surprise him and somehow, that just made it hurt more. He had not made a bond with him, so there was nothing to break but the fact that there was someone still alive, someone who could help him if he felt so obliged?

Never mind. It hurt too much to think about. He shook the thought from his head, forcing himself back to the painful reality and looking up with dead eyes. Naraku was pushing his face into the cement floor by yanking his hair from side to side; he could smell the blood raising to the surface as the rough stone brought scratches to his face. "Aren't you going to answer?" The voice was quiet, deadly. Sesshoumaru clenched his eyes shut, biting his tongue to put off having to admit that, no, he was not going to answer because he had been ignoring the spider.

"No...I wasn't listening Sir." The confession rushed through his aching throat; he struggled to take in air through his rising panic. "...Stay." The dark figure walked away, Sesshoumaru seeing only his dark blue tabi with his limited vision of the floor, half the room. He blinked away the scratchy feeling of tears in his eyes, clenching his fists hard enough to draw blood. He could feel his poison rising to the surface in reaction to his anxiety, tinting his fair skin green. He withheld the urge to run. He listened. He stayed.

"Would you like to tell me, Sesshoumaru," Naraku's voice was friendly, drifting to his terrified captive's ears; he wasn't fooled by false tenderness, "What was so interesting that you chose to block me out this time?"

His heart was pounding painfully. He could feel the blood rising to his skin, turning his cheeks and neck red. "I...don't know..." A harsh, mocking laugh; "Too stupid to come up with coherent thoughts, are you?" Sesshoumaru bit his lip again (always the samespot,always drawing a small bead of blood), "I was thinking of someone," he mumbled, gently tipping his head down, bangs brushing against a pale brow, "I prefer not to remember him but..." But what? What was he to say, that InuYasha was on his mind? No; he would just be mocked, reminded that he was not important, reminded of his place painfully. No; best to feign ignorance here.

"But...?" He shook his head again, slowly bringing his hands up to rest his forehead upon his palms. He stayed there, folded in half upon the floor and trying to still his traitorous body, which was shaking violently. "Nothing...I'm sorry...nothing..."

Naraku raised a brow, smirk widening as he gazed down at the perfect figure crouched on his floor, counting the vertebrate that jutted upward beneath pale skin. It was marred with silver, scars crisscrossing, varient in size and severity. "Lord Sesshoumaru," the submissive flinched at the title, growling in his throat unwillingly. A rough hand came into his locks again, pulling harshly until he was sitting back on his heels, then bent in half again, golden eyes cast downward out of habit. His head was yanked from side to side in a show of power; to prove that he could force him into movement, to remind him that he *would not* fight back. A small, pink tongue snuck out to trail a wet line across Naraku's black boots. They tasted of leather and soil, of the outside world and of his own mouth from the last time he had performed the act. "To whom do you belong?" Sesshoumaru swallowed dryly, lips not leaving the boots as he whispered out the response of "You"; monosyllabic but to those that knew the former Sesshoumaru, it spoke volumes. The dark haired one smiled at the lewd display, tilting his foot to rest on his heel so the wet appendage could reach the underside. With each motion, Sesshoumaru lost another face to his graveyard of memories.

Sesshoumaru forgot the smiling girl with the ponytail.

He forgot the green imp who's voice was shrill.

'InuYasha...' His mind's voice whimpered out the name. He would not forget. He would not...! What would become of him then? If he had not already succumbed to madness surely he would if he sunk into isolation... 'InuYasha...'

He cried out as he was yanked up then thrown down onto the floor. The cement made his bones ache; he hit the side of his head and sanguine fluid dripped onto the floor. 'InuYasha!'

The sadist had no face; he was a shadow with red eyes. Sesshoumaru squeezed his eyes shut, feeling hot tears run down his temples as searing pain tore through his most private of places. Nothing was his anymore. 'InuYasha?' The face blurred into color; tan and white and red.

'...InuYasha...!'

A black tentacle squirmed into his throat, forcing his jaw open to a painful level. He gagged, throwing his head to the side in an attempt to dislodge it. He couldn't breathe. His head and chest ached and everything was hurting and moving too quickly and he thought he was going to throw up from the insistant nausea.

"Who owns you?"

Blessed air rushed into his lungs. The white haired youkai coughed, turning his head to the side and trembling violently. The spider was sitting upon his hips, straddling him and keeping his arms pinned firmly to his sides. He fell limp beneath the grasp but the pressure on his skin did not let up. He would have more bruises in the morning. Dead eyes slowly focused on a bare chest; he dared not meet those eyes. They would burn him. "You own me."

"Good boy."

And, all at once, he was alone again. The door slammed, a heavy metal lock loudly sliding into place from the outside. There was nothing but stone and blackness. Sesshoumaru curled into his usual position, bringing his numb fingers to his lips and hearing only his breathing. Naraku would be back, and each time he left, he would take a piece of Sesshoumaru with him until there was nothing left. He didn't fear it; he was not afraid to die. He focused on the numb seeping into his body, the stones sucking the borrowed heat from his skin. InuYasha...

...Why did the name sound so familiar?

END


End file.
